ZEE-Sony merger comes through, viewers to benefit
- IndiaGlitz, [Thursday,December 23 2021]
The merger of ZEE and Sony was completed formally, pending the fulfillment of a few conditions, on Wednesday. The union has created India's second-largest entertainment network. As per national media reports, Punit Goenka is slated to lead the ZEE-Sony entity as its managing director and CEO.
Going a bit back into the developments, with the merger, Sony would have 51% ownership and appoint a majority of directors. The merged company would be bigger than sector leader Star India, commented senior research analyst Abhishek Kothari.
Three conditions must now be fulfilled before the merger becomes a reality: 75% of ZEE's shareholders need to approve the merger. Then there are regulatory and third-party approvals to be completed.
The consumers/viewers will have access to these things once the merger successfully takes off:
About 75 TV channels OTT platforms ZEE5 and SonyLiv
It's hoped that the film studios owned by ZEE and Sony currently will scale up in the coming years. This will benefit the film industry ecosystem.
The deal is a good one for ZEE, reports have said. On Thursday, Moneycontrol reported that the ZEE share price advanced over 2% in the early trade today post-merger approval with Sony Pictures Networks India.